Strength Training vs Body Building Diet

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JordanLomb
JordanLomb Posts: 20 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been researching this for a while, but what exactly is the difference if any between a Strength Training diet vs a Bulking diet? I'm trying to increase my strength and not necessarily looking for mass gains, and trying to figure out if I need to eat an excess of calories or eat to maintain for optimal results.

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  • gio14
    gio14 Posts: 57 Member
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    Well I wouldn't say there's an actual difference in diet. Bulking just typically means eating at a surplus. Macros will "roughly" be the same since the bulker is usually trying to gain muscle mass. Just depends on what your goals are. What u should do first is determine your daily caloric burn then u can adjust from there. If u dont want to gain weight stay at maintenance. But to figure out your maintenance you'll have to determine your actual TDEE (Your daily caloric burn to get thru the day+your activity level burn) When I was going thru my strength program I would burn up to 600cals during my workout alone, so u need to account for those calories. If your gonna be constantly lifting at a deficit your strength is gonna suffer and stall. Keep in mind eventually the only way to increase strength is to increase mass. So depends on what ur ultimate goals are and how strong u wanna get, you'll know when you've hit the "wall".

    There are plenty of online calculators that will help you estimate some initial numbers to get you going. I would monitor weight and make sure u are in fact staying at maintenance, if you find yourself losing weight then slowly up your cals by 100-200 a day until your maintaining. Recalibrate every few weeks. Good luck!
  • JordanLomb
    JordanLomb Posts: 20 Member
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    gio14 wrote: »
    Well I wouldn't say there's an actual difference in diet. Bulking just typically means eating at a surplus. Macros will "roughly" be the same since the bulker is usually trying to gain muscle mass. Just depends on what your goals are. What u should do first is determine your daily caloric burn then u can adjust from there. If u dont want to gain weight stay at maintenance. But to figure out your maintenance you'll have to determine your actual TDEE (Your daily caloric burn to get thru the day+your activity level burn) When I was going thru my strength program I would burn up to 600cals during my workout alone, so u need to account for those calories. If your gonna be constantly lifting at a deficit your strength is gonna suffer and stall. Keep in mind eventually the only way to increase strength is to increase mass. So depends on what ur ultimate goals are and how strong u wanna get, you'll know when you've hit the "wall".

    There are plenty of online calculators that will help you estimate some initial numbers to get you going. I would monitor weight and make sure u are in fact staying at maintenance, if you find yourself losing weight then slowly up your cals by 100-200 a day until your maintaining. Recalibrate every few weeks. Good luck!

    Thanks! I've bulked in the past, but I wasn't sure if the difference. I even read that you eat slightly above but just do lower, heavier reps.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    never heard of a "strength training" diet …sounds like some BS bro science...
  • WeaponXI
    WeaponXI Posts: 63 Member
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    Very simply strength training diets have changed over the years, originally it was based around the "see food" diet, pretty much, you see food, you eat it. Lots of protein, lots of carbs, lots of fat, LOTS of calories. Current strength training diets are much closer to bodybuilding diets, some go through a bulking phase, others skip it all together.
    Bodybuilding diets have lots of protein, and carbs are cycled through the bulking/cutting phase, fat is kept lower, especially during the cutting phase (to help with a shredded appearance with lots of muscle definition).
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
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    JordanLomb wrote: »
    I've been researching this for a while, but what exactly is the difference if any between a Strength Training diet vs a Bulking diet? I'm trying to increase my strength and not necessarily looking for mass gains, and trying to figure out if I need to eat an excess of calories or eat to maintain for optimal results.

    Here's my understanding but strength gaining does not necessarily mean bulking. When I look at bulking I think of gaining muscle mass. This does not necessarily correlate to strength, simply size. Therefore, bulking diets require a bit more calories. Strength diets are a bit more geared towards maintenance with minimal excess. Just my thoughts really, I could be way off...

  • gio14
    gio14 Posts: 57 Member
    edited February 2015
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    JordanLomb wrote: »
    Thanks! I've bulked in the past, but I wasn't sure if the difference. I even read that you eat slightly above but just do lower, heavier reps.

    Yup strength reps will be in 3-5 rep range. Mass will be in the 8-10 along with rep variances to stimulate growth. Strength requires pure power and usually longer rest periods to allow the nervous system to recover. Bro science says eat everything u can get ur hands on.. The science is... don't go into a caloric deficit or u won't have the nrg to keep increasing weight. I was burning almost 600cals during my strength training sessions. I did the 5x5 and made phenomenal gains in strength, I would go with the stronglifts program, pretty solid.. you'll be very happy with your gains over a 12 week cycle.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    I strength train and compete. I eat well balanced and extra protein, aminos etc. I don't know what body builders eat. But if you are looking to get stronger versus getting bigger, that's more about what happens int he gym than what you eat. Form and technique and building your muscles and body for strength rather than size, a totally different program than bodybuilders.
  • dwolfe1985
    dwolfe1985 Posts: 100 Member
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    WeaponXI wrote: »
    Very simply strength training diets have changed over the years, originally it was based around the "see food" diet, pretty much, you see food, you eat it. Lots of protein, lots of carbs, lots of fat, LOTS of calories. Current strength training diets are much closer to bodybuilding diets, some go through a bulking phase, others skip it all together.
    Bodybuilding diets have lots of protein, and carbs are cycled through the bulking/cutting phase, fat is kept lower, especially during the cutting phase (to help with a shredded appearance with lots of muscle definition).

    Was my understanding that fat is ramped up with protein somewhat during cutting for satiety because of the lack of carbs its also used as energy. Dropping your carbs will get the shredded look because they bond with water in the cell and bloat you up.
  • CarreraGT3
    CarreraGT3 Posts: 3
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    Almost all trainers recommend consuming 1.5-2 g/lb of protein for muscle gain. There are associated calories with this. Hence, competitive bodybuilders go through cutting and bulking cycles.
  • WeaponXI
    WeaponXI Posts: 63 Member
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    @dwolfe1985 There are different schools of thought regarding the whole fat and carbs, some say fat intake needs to be increased, while carbs need to be decreased, while others say it's the other way around. Both sides seem to have countless studies to back up their views. Which is right, I really don't know.
    I personally follow the increased protein, and lower fat, higher carb approach. When I tried the lower carbs, I would just run out of energy during my workout, and be tired through the rest of the day.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
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    WeaponXI wrote: »
    @dwolfe1985 There are different schools of thought regarding the whole fat and carbs, some say fat intake needs to be increased, while carbs need to be decreased, while others say it's the other way around. Both sides seem to have countless studies to back up their views. Which is right, I really don't know.

    It's funny because I'm about to finish my MS and some days I feel like I don't know anything because when you really look into the details, we really don't everything 100% and by "we" I mean the academic community. There are so many studies that prove one thing and contradict another. I think if you look at the large body of evidence these are a couple good takeaways...

    1. To build strength & hypertrophy you really need to be in a hyper-caloric state. Not to say that some muscle growth isn't possible in a hyper-caloric state but most academics agree that you need to be in a hyper-caloric state. Keep in-mind that many top academics are also strength & conditioning coaches, elite or at least advanced body builders and strength athletes as well.

    2. Carbs fuel performance and many view carbs as an ergogenic aid (something that improves performance). How much do you need is up to the individual. Can some perform well without, definitely; but in-general carbs will help you perform better.

    You'll have to play around with things and see what tends to work for you.
  • JordanLomb
    JordanLomb Posts: 20 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Thanks for the advice y'all!
    @gio14‌ doing 5x5 now and it's good, saves me so much time at the gym as well thanks!
  • foursirius
    foursirius Posts: 321 Member
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    Don't eat in a surplus and you won't gain mass. So hit your standard macros and you should be set.

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